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He Came, He Saw, He Tripped: Poroshenko's Fatal New York Circus

September 26, 2016 -

By Eduard Popov for Fort Russ - translated by J. Arnoldski -

Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited New York to address a session of the UN General Assembly. The circumstances of this visit were surrounded by scandalous details and, quite possibly, threaten the Ukrainian leader with big trouble in the future.

Poroshenko’s speech was overflowing with anti-Russian rhetoric. Poroshenko, after all, is an illegitimate president who came to power as a result of a coup d’etat and elections accompanied by violence and massive fraud. Thus, Poroshenko’s call to reform the structure of the UN Security Council is at once blasphemous and presumptuous. Let’s not forget that one of the founders of the UN was the Soviet Union, whom official Ukrainian propaganda call a “totalitarian state.” But it was on the insistence of Stalin that the Soviet Union also be represented by two union republics: Ukraine and Belarus. The rejection of continuity with the Soviet Union and Ukraine's state-level rehabilitation of Ukrainian accomplices of Hitler’s executioners calls into question Ukraine’s membership itself in the UN.

Mass media have since disproven the false claim of Ukrainian authorities that Poroshenko held long negotiations with US President Barack Obama. Then the media reported that, in fact, Poroshenko and Obama exchanged only a few words “on the go.” This fact was sarcastically commented on by Ukrainian media as well.

The fact of the matter is that President Poroshenko enjoys less and less respect not only in Ukraine, but also in the world. The wrinkled suit in which he spoke from the rostrum at the UN only further enhances his resemblance to a clown. This is hardly the image that a politician and leader wants for himself at home and abroad.

Poroshenko’s visit to New York was accompanied by another scandalous event. US presidential candidate Donald Trump refused to meet with the Ukrainian leader. Some media have reported that Trump ignored Poroshenko’s invitation to meet. But this is not entirely true. In fact, the refusal to meet was due to the fact that Trump was participating in previously planned events as part of his election campaign. A meeting with supporters is more important for Trump than meeting with a president of dubious legitimacy. But the very fact of the refusal and of its circumstances were really humiliating for Poroshenko. The invitation was simply ignored, left without any accompanying apologies or expressions of regret. In fact, this looked like a demonstration of disrespect for Poroshenko.

On Sunday, September 25th, in an interview with CNN, Poroshenko stated that he does not want to take seriously Donald Trump’s words on possibly recognizing Crimea as Russian. According to the Ukrainian leader, the American politician’s words are nothing but campaign rhetoric.

Poroshenko’s statement, however, violates the basic pricniples of subordination between Ukraine and the US which took shape after the coup in Kiev, according to which only Washington has the right to evaluate what is happening in Ukraine and, of course, in the US.

Poroshenko’s statement, in which he rudely and incorrectly interpreted the words of one of the main US presidential candidates, is not only an attack on Trump personally, but on the system of American leadership as such.

Before, only independent states (Russia, China, and Iran) or revolutionary countries (Cuba, Venezuela, etc.) allowed themselves to make such comments. The Ukrainian president doesn’t fit into the first nor the second category. His "servile revolt", nevertheless, will not stop at being mere insubordination. Will Washington take note and do something about this? I think so. The chances of Poroshenko sitting in the Ukrainian presidential chair again are becoming all the more elusive.